Western Railroad Discussion > First Time to Tehachapi

After years of living in Southern California and watching trains, I've still never been to Tehachapi. So on a whim, I've decided to head up there tomorrow.

Already have detail USGS maps of the area and have checked up on the forecast, and I've printed out brettrw's excellent info from his website http://www.trainweb.org/brettrw/index.html, and of course bringing the camera and my trusty VX-150.

My question is: any advice for the first time visitor? Spots to see or perils to avoid?

And if you see a 20-something guy in a red Dodge Dakota, feel free to say hi.

For the first trip just take the Keene turn off and go to the loop and start there. The surrounding area has plenty you keep you busy for a day. A few miles down the hill is the turn off to Caliente which also has a lot of things to see.
The only perils I can think of are stay off the tracks especially near the tunnels , it's hard to hear the down hill trains approaching, watch out for crazy cowboy drivers on the curvy old road to the loop, and be carefull pulling across the freeway when coming from the old caliente road, the downhill freeway traffic is really moving fast.....dave

Your in good hands. I printed his guide and also used it for my first time up there. It gave me a general grasp of the areas I wanted to be in. The next couple times I went up, I explored more and found more of the spots on his guide. I would check out the end of the dirt road at Woodford to photograph the trains coming over the Tehachapi Creek bridge. You will have no problems on the roads in your truck. Also check out the Loop overlook that goes out over Tunnel 10, very much worth the hike. From here you can also see Burton's Curve 8-)

Also a good place to get some photos between the Tehachapi and Mojave is Cameron. Just take the Cameron Road exit off the highway and follow it until you come to the grade crossing, pick your spot and listen. The main image on the link was taken at the grade crossing.

If you have some time check out some of my photos on my website from one of my trips up to that area. I spent the night next to the tracks at the Tehachapi Creek bridge, it was really a fun experience.

Here is a link to the photos on my website.

http://www.californiatrains.com/wish_main.html

Note: All of my Caliente photos are taken from the Caliente Overlook on his map (Site C)

Have fun, and watch for quick changes in the weather. Hopefully the fog will not be too bad in the morning hours.

Chris
http://www.californiatrains.com

Don't miss going down to Caliente and Bealeville. Not hard to find, west of Keene on 58. Take the Caliente-Bealeville Rd exit. Not much left at Bealeville but a good view of hillside running off to the east and just a few miles on down to the big horseshoe curve at Caliene.

You do need to pay attention to traffic at Caliente-Bealeville Rd. It's a grade crossing not a bridge like the Keene offramp.

Rains predicted for LA on Sunday so be prepared for it coming in earlier